So what is going to happen to our precious Independent Characters now? Well, lets find out! The joining and leaving unit rules have been shortened and made easier to read. The 2" rule still applies and it all looks the same as it did before, but now what? 'While the IC is part of a unit, he counts as part of the unit for all rules purposes, though he still follows the rules for Characters'...

Look out, sir:
Allows you to pass the the 'Look out, Sir' rule on a 2+ instead of a 4+

(This
rule allows a Character to allocate one of the wounds it has to take
onto another model in the unit within 6", before you can do this though,
you have to roll a dice, on a 1-3 you can't, and on a 4+ you can)

Heroic Morale:
If the unit he is with is under 25%, you are able test as if you had 25%.

(the 'Regrouping' rule is now different! You are now able to regroup if
at least 25% of the unit is alive, and it has a chance to pass the test
on a double one if it's under 25%. If successful, you can regroup 3")

Ongoing effects:
It is now confirmed that unless stated otherwise, if the Character leaves a unit that has gained or been harmed by an effect (such as fortune), he will take that effect with him, when he leaves. He will not however gain the effect, if he joins the unit after the effect has been gain or bestowed.

Well, actually there are no longer universal special rules, but next in the book after the assault phase, are the 'Special Rules'. I think it is very fair to say at this point, this new rule book isincredibly well done, loads of reference page numbers, and a large index page for pretty much everything. Also nice to see the main rule points highlighted in bold writing. The Special Rules section is no exception to this, it includes pretty much all of the special rules that are needed right through the book, all in one place and listed in alphabetical order. That works out at twelve whole pages of special rules! In this post though, I want to focus on the old USR that we are all used to and see how much they have changed...

Acute Senses:
If a unit with at least one model with this rule enters the table from a random board edge (flanking). The unit can re-roll the board edge dice. There is no extra rolling for Night Fight as Night Fight now has a totally difference rule, which we will look at later on.

And they shall know no fear:
Almost the same as it was and are also immune to the new 'Fear' rule. Fail a Fear test and you will be at weapon skill one in close combat.

Counter Attack:
Same as before, but only one model in the unit has to have the rule to take the test. Every model with the rule in the unit then gets +1 attack

Eternal Warrior:
No change

Fearless:
Fearless models automatically pass pinning, fear, morale and regrouping tests. They are unable to go to ground or choose to leave a combat with the 'Our weapons are useless' rule. Interesting to note that fearless models no longer have to take extra wounds when losing an assault, as the 'No Retreat' rule has gone.

Feel no Pain:
The FNP roll is now on a 5+ unless your rule has a number in brackets afterwards. It is now only bypassed by wounds that cause instant death.

Fleet:
May re-roll one or more dice when rolling to 'Run' or 'Charge', they can no longer assault after they run.

Furious Charge:
Plus one to strength, but not to initiative.

Hit and Run:
Looks like it is the same as it was

Move Through Cover:
3D6 and take the highest as it was, and automatically passed dangerous terrain tests. It has no effect on the 'Charge range' roll when assaulting.

Night Vision:
A unit with at least one model with Night Vision ignores the effects of Night Fight.

Outflank:
Almost the same with the exception for 'Ongoing Reserves' such as a Flyers leaving the battlefield.

Preferred Enemy:
If your specific rule does not say a specific enemy, you are able to re-roll any ones to to hit and wound, in both the shooting and assault phase. Only one model has to have the rule for the unit to benefit from it.

Rage:
Rage just grants you two attacks on the charge (hello Death Company, see you on the tables)

Relentless:
Looks like no change

Scout:
The main thing here is that you are no longer able to Scout and then Assault the first turn.

Skilled Rider:
Automatically passes dangerous terrain test and has a plus one to the new Jinks special rule (5+/4+ cover save if you move certain distances for units with the Jinks rule)

Stealth:
No change, but it does say you get always get a 6+ cover save in the open

Stubborn:
Same as before, but if you are also fearless, you use the fearless rules instead.

Swarms:
They still take two wounds when hit by blast weapons, but no longer gain the Stealth special rule. Instead they now ignore difficult terrain.

Tank Hunters:
May re-roll failed armour penetration rolls against vehicles (shooting and assault), and can choose to re-roll Glancing hits to try and get a penetrating hit instead, but must accept the second roll.

It's interesting to see that 'Turboboost' is missing from this section, but it can be found in the bike rules later in the book.

29 June 2012

So, onto the assault phase and right away we read a change. The phase is now split into two sub-phases, 'Charge Sub-phase' and 'Fight Sub-phase'. It is split like this so that we are able to use a new concept rule called 'Overwatch'. First you declare which unit you want to charge, of which you have to be in range and have line of sight too. You then have a chance to resolve Overwatch, which basically lets your oppnent shoot at the assaulting unit before it comes in. You don't have to shoot, but if you do, you will be shooting at ballistic skill one. I can see this being useful, for even only one death, which will have to be taken from the front dude, could mean the unit is no longer in charge range!

You then roll to find out your charge range, which in most cases will be 2D6", and then the models launch the assault the same as in 5th edition, closest model first etc. If your assaulting through difficult terrain you have to roll 3D6 and take the two lowest dice, reducing your initiative to one as standard.

Next is the Fight Sub-phase, and the pile in move. This is now done in initiative order, so if the highest attackers initiative is five, any models that are not in base contact that are also initiative five are able to make a 3" pile in move to try and get into base contact. Pile in moves ignore difficult terrain, but do not ignore dangerous terrain! Models can only fight if they are in base contact, or within 2" of a model in base contact after it has piled in at its initiative step.

The fighting takes place the same as it did in 5th, rolling to hit and wound as usual. Allocating wounds is also done the same as in the shooting phase, where the closest model takes the wound first. So basically the models in base contact at the initiative step take the wounds first, and then the next closest, when there are models the same distance away, the player who owns the models chooses where the wounds go. The wounds are able to spread through the unit, even out side of the two 2" range. Once a model has a wound allocated to it, you must continue to allocate wounds to it until is removed! You are also able to use the Fast dice rule to speed up the process whenever possible, just like in the shooting phase. The 'look out, sir' rule is also available in the assault phase, the same as in the shooting phase, to help keep Characters alive.

Determining assault results have not changed and the losing unit has to take a Morale check, or fall back. The Morale rules have not changed. There is a new rule called 'Our weapons are useless' which lets you choose to automatically fail the Morale check to fall back if your weapons are unable to touch your opponent. Sweeping advance and the fall back move has not changed. Pile in at the end of the combat is also done in initiative order and is only 3". Consolidation is still D6" and once again activates any dangerous terrain tests, but not difficult terrain tests.

Multiple combats is now slightly different, in that you will lose your plus one for the charge dice, and both units you assault would get their Overwatch shots at you. The targets are then split into primary and secondary targets, and you have to get all models that can go into base contact with the primary target before you can start moving into the secondary target. There is no initiative penalty for charging through terrain if all enemy units are already locked in combat or have gone to ground.

The 'Fall back' rules looks to be the same as it was, but the 'Regrouping' rule is now different! You are now able to regroup if at least 25% of the unit is alive, and it has a chance to pass the test on a double one if it's under 25%. If successful, you can regroup 3", but dangerous terrain test will be activated as above. The regrouped unit can only shoot 'Snap shot' and nothing else. You are also now allowed to regroup even if there is an enemy model with 6"of you!

Ok, so next to read in the book is the shooting phase, and we are now starting to see a few big changes. The rules follow the same format as we expect, but there is now a new 'Snap shots' rule. This basically means that any models with a ballistic skill are able to move and then shoot their guns (even heavy) at ballistic skill one. The only exception being blasts and templates or weapons that don't need a ballistic skill to shoot. The rule also points out that the Necron Monolith is unable to use it's Portal of Excile to Snap shot! The rest of the shooting rules are the same as before, including the run rule, but there has been some major changes to wound allocation.

Allocation of wounds are broken down into three sections, and there is a new 'Wound pool' rule to help GW explain it easier. The Wound pool is just gathering and remembering what wounds you have and what strength, AP they are etc. Then it tells you how to allocate wounds to units, when you have the same save on every model. You just pick up the dice, roll the saves, and then take one wound off the closest models to the firing unit. Ok, so now it gets interesting, you have to continues to allocate wounds to the closest model until it is removed! It then clarifies that you will have to roll a dice to see which models are the closest in a new 'Random allocation' rule for when you don't know who is the closest, using a Mawloc's terror from the deep as an example.

Next, is mixed saves. Where you have mixed saves in a unit you will need to allocate one wound at a time to the closest model and roll the saves individually, before moving onto the next save! I had to read this several times to make sure it was correct, as it sounds like this will take forever! Make sure you read the next page as well, as there is a new 'Fast dice' rule that makes this a bit easier. Fast dice lets you roll dice together, so if you had one guy with a 3+ save and five guys with a 4+ save, and you had to take seven wounds, all from the same type of gun. All you do is see how many of the same save guys are the closest, lets say four guys, you then roll four wounds, if two die take two off the front. Then roll another two dice, for those two, and keep going until the wound pool is empty.

Lastly is mixed saves, where you have to save different strength and AP wounds etc. In this case you roll each group of wounds separately. There is then an extra rule in here that says the shooting player is able to choose which order the various group of shots are rolled in! So if there are some dudes at the back of a unit that you want to kill, you might want to allocate a set of AP2 wounds to be taken last in hope that they will end up taking those wounds!

Running along side this, you are unable to kill any models that
you cannot see, with the exception of a new 'Look out, sir' rule. This
rule allows a Characters to allocate wounds and unsaved wounds it has to take
onto another model in the unit within 6", before you can do this though,
you have to roll a dice for each wound, on a 1-3 you can't, and on a 4+ you can.

This section then moves onto some stuff for cover. The only part of a model that can be shot at are its head, arms, torso and legs! So tails, wings, guns etc. don't count. To determine if your model is in cover when you allocate it a wound, at least 25% of the model has to be obscured from the point of view of at least one firer. There are no more unit cover saves, it is all done on individual models!

Lastly, is the new 'Focus fire rule. This is a bit of a read, but makes more sense when you look at the picture supplied. Basically, you can choose to focus fire your shots into a unit, which enables you to choose which models get hit when some are in cover and some are not. You can choose to hit only the models in the open so only these can die. Or you can focus fire and select a cover save value between 2+ and 6+. Only models with that cover save or worse can be allocated a wound and the rest will be allocated to the models without any cover.

28 June 2012

Not too much to report in with here. Everything is pretty much the same as it was before with the exception of a 'which models are moving' rule! You are now able to nominate which models in a unit are moving and which ones are stationary. Pretty handy if you need to reposition your unit, but still want to shoot your heavy weapons at full ballistic skill!

The first thing I noticed about the new book is that it is huge, much thicker than previous editions. It's going to be heavier to lug around with you and will most certainly take up more bookshelf space than it probably needs to! The pages and print are of the same high quality that forth edition was, but most of the illustrations have been upgraded to colour, which does make it look very nice.

I started off flicking around the book in excitement trying to get snip bits of rules, but I soon realised that I would just have to start reading it from the beginning instead, as some things just didn't make sense. So once my adrenaline had calmed down a bit, page one it was...

The first few pages are pretty much the same as we all know and love, with only one rule change, and it is quite a big one. You are now able to 'always check any distance at anytime'. Later in the book it continues to say that you can see if your unit has the correct range before you select to attack that unit, confirming that you can literally pre-measure anything you want. Sounds good, but I have a feeling there are going to be a lot of permanently extended tape measures around the tables.

As I continue through the book, it is great to see that key rules that we are always looking for, are all highlighted in bold black writing. I think this is going to be a real benifit when searching for that rule you can never find. The book also has a good quality built in book marker, which I think is brilliant. So that's it for the first few pages, next up is the movement phase...

You have probably noticed that I have been posting more
than usual recently, this was mainly because I had some 5th edition
stuff in my scheduled list that I needed to clear through before the new
book arrived. Well today is 6th edition day for me, as I have managed
to get my grubby hands on the new rule book! Below is an unboxing video
and to be honest, I am feeling very happy that I did my best to ignore
all the rumours that floated about over the last year or so. I am really
looking forward to reading my copy of the new 40k rules with no
expectations of what might, or might not be happening to all of my
armies.

On the Blog front, with no scheduled posts in
the system, it's almost like a fresh start for that as well. I would
like thank everyone for all the support I have received with the Blog so
far. I have made many new friends, including Embolden 40k and all the great guys over at UK Bloggers Group.
I appreciate every comment, email, link, feed, blogroll etc. that I
have had, and I can only hope that you have enjoyed my 5th Edition
journey as much as I have. I am sure the new rulebook with not only
bring GW a bucket load more money, but will really stimulate the 40k
community and gaming groups everywhere. So lets celebrate this together
as we move forward into a brand new era of 6th Edition, where there is
only war...

27 June 2012

Well, now that I have my Broodlord painted, I need to get him on the table. I have played around with a Swarmlord Star list before, but I have never played with nine Hive Guard. This is mainly because I don't have the models, but as Warriors make great proxies for Hive Guard and indeed, great conversion opportunities for them, I suppose it's about time I tried them out, and for my first game I was up against Tau...

26 June 2012

A few posts ago I talked about some tactical ideas on using Lukas the Trickster for my Space Wolves, and my 13th Company Trickster that was painted up by PaintingXoan. For my first game with him, I wanted to run what I call, the Lukas Mega Bomb. Basically, it's a full unit of Blood Claws with Lukas and a Wolf Priest, all charging forward in a Landraider Crusader.

Now that unit comes to 820 points, so in a 1750 point list, that's a massive whack! Still, Lukas is all about fun, so I am happy to run with it and see what list I can come up with. First up we will need some supporting Troops. Two Rhinos with Grey Hunters and a Wolf Guard in each to follow up the Crusader charge, and one Razor back to sit back on any objectives. That leaves me with enough points for two packs of missile Long Fangs and a flanking unit of Scouts with another Wolf Guard.

With my limited play of Space Wolves, I still find it amazing how cheap everything is in the Codex, compared to my original Eye of Terror army, where missile Long Fangs were 188 points! Anyway, I ended up with a few points left over, so I purchsed a couple of Hunter Killer Missiles. After my first game, I realised I should have bought some much needed Dozer Blades instead! With just a few tanks on the table rather than a bucket load, the last thing you want to do is immobilise yourself on terrain!

So here is the list I played, and a battle report of a friendly game I had against Grey Knights with it. The next time I use the list, I will drop a Hunter Killer Missile and both Rhinos will have Dozer Blades...

25 June 2012

This is the last game I had with my three Wave Serpents before I put them on the painting desk. My list is based around using the six Forge World converted tanks I have. It isn't a very spammy list and doesn't make best use of unit redundancy, but I had a lot of fun with it when I played it against Daemons and Orks, so it didn't surprise me when I also had a blast with it against Marines.

24 June 2012

Well, it's fair to say that the release of the Necron Doom/Night Scythe put a bit of a spanner in the works for my next Eldar painting project, but rest assured, I have also been quietly working on some Eldar at the same time. I have now finished magnetising and preparing my three Forge World Wave Serpents ready for painting. Three tanks with all the weapon options, Forge World Star Engines, Vectored Engines and Shuriken
Cannons, all base coated and ready to go. I wouldn't expect to find too many
'painted' posts from me in the near future! Wish me luck and hopefully they will turn out something like my Falcon and Fire Prisms...

23 June 2012

With everyone talking about what can be learnt about 6th edition in this months White Dwarf, I can see why the latest Necron release has had no attention! Both Anrakyr the Traveller and Orikan the Diviner are available to buy on 21st July. I think these two new minis are looking pretty sweet, although I am not sure about Anrakyr's skirt! It's still a shame he can't use his Mind of the Machine ability from a barge, as I would have bought this mini right away for sure...

Now that I have my Lukas the Trickster mini painted up for me by PaintingXoan, it's time to look at getting him on the table. I am aware that you will not find this dirty fighter in most competitive lists, or indeed even his Blood Claw brothers, but even so, for casual fun games, he surely can bring something to the table. So how are we going to use him?

Lukas has a few things going for him, he is not an IC so he generally cannot be targeted out. When he is left standing by himself and can be hit in CC, your enemy will have to re-roll all of their successful hits against him, and then when he finally dies, he has a chance to have the last laugh and kill all the models in base contact with him! He comes with a Plasma pistol and Power Claw, and with his Tooth Necklace will always hit on a three, sounds like fun to me!

The way I see it you have four ways of using the Trickster...

Lukas Mini Bomb

1 x Lukas the Trickster (155)

5 x Blood Claws (75)

1 x Rhino/Extra Armour (50)

(280 Points)

The Mini bomb is totally based around Lukas and his Last Laugh, and is something you should be able to add into your normal styled list. Five basic Blood Claws and a Rhino with extra armour to help get him to your target. We will be aiming for the most annoying unit your enemy has and sending him into it to die. With a lucky roll off, hopefully you will be able to take out the majority of that unit as he dies.

Lukas Mod Bomb

1 x Wolf Priest/Runic
Armour/Tooth Necklace/Saga of the Hunter (140)

1 x Lukas the Trickster (155)

8 x Blood Claws/Meltagun/Power
Fist (150)

1 x Rhino/Extra Armour (50)

(495 Points)

The Mod bomb is similar to the Mini bomb, but has a moderate amount of bodies to go with the Trickster. The much needed Wolf Priest is there to give the unit preferred enemy and and a plus one to it's cover save. He will also make the unit fearless and help with the Tricksters Rebellious rule. The end result and mission of this unit is still to try and use the Last Laugh as best as possible, but it should have a better survival rate if the Rhino gets taken out before you get to your target. If your transport gets you into the heart of your enemy safely, you should have enough bodies to do a reasonable amount of damage before you roll off for the Last Laugh.

Lukas Mob Bomb

1 x Wolf Priest/Runic
Armour/Tooth Necklace/Hunter (140)

1 x Wolf Guard Terminator/Combi-Melta/Chain fist (53)

1 x Lukas the Trickster (155)

14 x Blood Claws/2x Meltagun/1x Power Fist (240)

(588 Points)

The Mob bomb is a foot based unit maxed out as best as possible, so that it can slug across the board and take a few casualties along the way. The Wolf Guard is added to the unit to take on those AP3 shots along with the Priest, but don't forget not to allocate any instant death shots on the Priest when doing so.

The Mega bomb is taking Lukas the Trickster and building a Death Star type unit around him. Forget about slugging the unit across the board on foot, lets put them in a Landraider Crusader and charge at our enemy with all guns blazing!

Supporting the different bombs is going to be the next step. The Mini bomb should fit right into any list with maxed out Grey Hunters in Rhinos. Whereas the points of the Mod bomb would probably mean replacing a Thunderwolf pack to get them in! The Mob and Mega bombs are a totally different story with their points values. You would be much better off building a list from the ground up, rather than fitting them into your current list, and that's where I am going to start my first list for a bit of fun, the Lukas Mega Bomb!

22 June 2012

So, are the new Necron Flyers totally designed for 6th edition? We know that Flyers are going to have their own rules in the book, and as GW will want to sell lots of them, they probably are going to be half decent. As it stands now though, and with my interchangeable Scythe all painted up, I have been trying to work out the best way to use them in 5th, while it's still with us.

First up is the Doom Scythe, and to be totally honest, I really don't think it's even worth contemplating it in it's Doom form. Annihilation Barges are just too good for the points in the heavy support slot. The Doom Scythe comes in at 175 pts, and although has the movement, doesn't have any shielding to protect its AV11. Not only that, but it is going to be hard getting any cover saves unless you move fast, due to that very tall stand. I really can't see me hitting the table with the Doom Scythe, not until 6th changes things things anyway...

So what about the Night Scythe? Well, it still suffers from the same problems as the Doom Scythe, but instead of the rather short ranged and random Death Ray, you can transport robots in it. The question is, what to put in it? If the Scythe goes down, any unit that is inside automatically goes back into reserve, which is a brand rule for a 40k vehicles and one that I welcome to my army, because it makes it different. The only real way to counter the weak AV11 is to have more than one model for unit redundancy, but at this moment in time, I only have one of these beauties, and need to come up with a plan to be able to use it.

Night Scythe Deckchair Delay Tactics

As Embolden 40k talked about, we will usually all have a deckchair unit in our army, a weak unit of troops that is designed to sit in the sun holding an objective, or to reserve and come out onto an objective when available. So, if we put our deckchair unit of Warriors or Immortals into a Night Scythe, and the Scythe stays alive for two or three turns, we will be keeping our deckchair unit off the table and alive. The Scythe can be used as a distraction unit, moving fast to gain a good position and cover saves first turn, and then open up its guns for as long as it can thereafter. I am sure the Scythe will get some attention and will at some point go down, probably in turn two or three. Now your nice and safe deckchair unit goes in reserve, and can come on turn four or five to capture your rear objective, just as if you were using a piece of wargear to delay them!

20 June 2012

Not so long ago I noticed that today's scheduled post was going to be my 300th post! Wow, I really can't believe it myself, but I must be enjoying the Blog or I would never have got to it. So as a pat on my own back, I decided to put some time aside and get all my painted Stinger Hive Fleet that I have done so far, together for the first time. I still have plenty to paint, but it's starting to come together now. Thanks to everyone who has supported me so far, I appreciate each and every view, comment, link, shoutout, blogroll etc. Hope you like the pic's...

18 June 2012

First up, thank you Fritz for coming up with his three C'tan challenge. It has been a pleasure taking up the challenge and coming up with a list that is all about taking three C'tan. You can check out how I went about building my list in this post, but here is my final list and a battle report against Orks that I did for my first game...

I won the roll off and chose to take first turn. I didn't want the Orks going first, as experience has shown me how fast these boyz are, even without vehicles, and I need to get some shooting in before they are on top of me. Although I would love the Ork player to set up in the opposite corner and trudge all the way across the board, I am pretty certain he will reserve most of his stuff so that he can come on opposite my deployment zone. I deploy everything, hiding the 'Deceiver' shard behind a small ruined building, with my Barges far forward to get off any early shots. The Ork player sees my deployment and decides to reserve everything.

Turn One

Necrons

So now I know I have two turns before any green skins show up. I basically start to redeploy my force into a pitched battle formation with my vehicles to the left. I am sure the Orks will come on opposite my deployment zone, so I want to try and give my Annihilation barges some room to shoot them as they come across the table.

Orks

In reserve

Turn Two

Necrons

I continue to spread out everything. I move forward enough to stay out of the assault range of the rear flanking
Kommandos, except for the hiding Deceiver and a lonely unit of Immortals
in the corner to my right. I am betting the Kommandos will ignore the
C'tan and go for the Immortals for an easy kill point. I try to judge the forward distance so that I am out of assault range of the Storm Boyz and Trukks as they come on from their board edge.

Orks

Orks roll for reserves and they seem pretty angry as everything comes out except for the Slugga Boyz. Storm Boyz move on 16" to the right and the Lootas go next to them into terrain, three Lootas go down from Worldscape. Both Trukks move on 12" staying together for Big Mech's cover saves and the Shoota Boyz come on to the left. The Kommandos go all out for two kill pints as he Waaagh's them through terrain to take on two units of Immortals. As they assault, Snikrot looses a wound and both the power weapons die from Worldscape, which really helped me hold up in the assault as the combat is tied.

Turn Three

Necrons

I move up my assault C'tan over to help the Immortals kill off the Kommandos, and shoot Thundrbolt at the Trukks and miss. My Barges then shoot into the Trukks immobilising both of them, I would have liked to of done more damage for the kill points, but now everyone is on foot I am very happy. I shoot one Tremorstave into the Storm Boyz and another into the Shoota Boyz and hope that it will slow them down enough for me to start moving backwards with my Immortals next turn. The C'tan assaults the Kommandos and kills them for a kill point.

Orks

The Slugga Boyz stay in reserve as both Trukks unload, moving and running slowly towards my Immortals. Two big shootas from the Boyz and the Lootas both shoot my Shooting C'tan on the right, taking him down to two wounds. The Storm Boyz move 18" right in front of my Immortals on the right loosing a few from the Quake. With the C'tan down to two wounds the Storm Boyz multi assault me taking out three Immortals and the C'tan. The C'tan explodes and wipes out most of the Boyz who then start to run under half strength.

Turn Four

Necrons

So now I am two kill points to one up and start to move my Immortals back away from the Thraka unit and the Mega Nobz. I start moving my assault C'tan toward the two Trukks and the Boyz on the left. One Tremorstaff goes into those Boyz to slow them down and the Annihilation barges shoot the two Trukks who make ALL their cover saves from big mech. The rest of my army shoots at the Mega Nobz and I end up killing nothing.

Orks

Thraka moves over and joins the Mega Nobz to free up the Nobz from Slow and Purposeful, as both units continue to move towards my two Immortal groups. This time the Slugga Boyz come on from reserve and take a pop shots at my Arks rear armour with their Big Shoota's, but do nothing. The Shoota Boyz risk the quake and move toward my C'tan loosing a couple on the way, and blasts the C'tan along with the Lootas, taking him down to one wound. With no guns left to finish him off, the Boyz assault the Shard killing him, but again loosing a number of Orks in the explosion. The five Boyz left consolidate into a pond for cover, and it's two kill points each.

Turn Five

Necrons

Turn five and potentially my last turn. With both Trukks still getting cover saves from Big Mech, I turn all my guns onto the five Boyz in the pond, as my Immortals and Deceiver keep moving away from the advancing Orks. Tremorstaves hit all round as my Annihilation Barges and Ark wipe out the five Boyz, even with them going to ground.

Orks

The big mech dies on a one as the group moves again towards my Immortals and the Nobz head toward the three Immortals on my right, but they move very slowly from the quake. The Lootas shoot into the three Immortals killing one of them, and two Big Shootas miss my Ark. The Boyz are out of assault range, so run towards my Immortals to get them next turn.

It's three kill points to two to the Necrons now, and we roll to see if the game ends, but it doesn't...

Turn Six

Necrons

I finally realise that I forgot to use my Solar Pulse and pop it off. I can see that two groups of my Immortals are in trouble now as I have nowhere to run, so I need to get two kill points this turn to stay one in front. The Tremorstave continues to keep the Slugga Boyz in terrain and I take out a Loota with the others. With no Big Mech around, both Annihilation Barges open up on the two Trukks destroying both of them. Five kill points to two.

Orks

With
night fight now up which was probably the perfect time for me after all, the Lootas are unable to do anything. As predicted I loose two Immortal groups to the Thraka unit and the Nob unit. The Slugga Boyz move well through the rough and dangerous terrain assaulting my Ark. They get a couple of sixes to hit me and roll a glancing hit on the chart, only scoring a one which I negate with my living metal.

Necrons are five kill points to four up as we roll to see if there is another turn, and there is...

Turn Seven

Necrons

I move everything away from the Orks to the left side of the board and open up with my Tremorstaves on anything that can move. I shoot the Barges into the Mega Nobs and reduce them down to one guy with just one wound, but no kill points.

Orks

With nothing in range and fear of loosing the last Mega Nob, Orks move nothing. They pick on a lonely group of Immortals and shoot everything they have at them. They kill a few and one stands back up, but no kill points. Games ends five kill points to four to my Necrons.

Conclusions

I have enjoyed using a C'tan shard before, but I have never had three on the table. They do, and will go down quickly without Stormlord to protect them, but then again, I got most of my kill points from shooting, which I wouldn't of done if Stormlord had been around. I really had fun building and playing my list, and I will definitely continue to use it for some more fun games in the future. So a massive thank you to Fritz for setting his three C'tan challenge, I really had fun.

16 June 2012

A while back I posted about winning a competition over on a YouTube Channel by PaintingXoan. The prize was for me to send him one of my miniatures for him to paint up to my requirements. I sent him my Space Wolves 13th Co. Lukas the Trickster conversion, with an Emperors Children arm, and I am very pleased to have received the mini back to show all of you the results. I think Xoan has done an amazing job on him and I am really happy how he turned out, what do you think? Thanks so much Xoan, I really appreciate the work you have done on him, and I plan on fielding him as soon as I can to see if he really can have the 'Last Laugh'

Orks won the roll off and put me in first, which was fine by me, as it meant I could start spawning from the off, and maybe get a couple of lucky lighting strikes on his Trukks. I new my Immortal group was going to have trouble with the Kommandos coming on from my rear, so I put a unit of Scarabs in a ring around them on my board edge for protection. I then put two groups of Scarabs as far forward as I could with the Spyders behind them and the two Ghost Arks either side of my group. Orks just lined up ready to charge, as you would expect them too.

The Plan

To be honest I was a bit concerned with what I was facing, but I set out a plan as best as I could. I would make as many Scarabs as possible on the two groups in front until the horde got close. Then go in for as much killing as possible with the Scarabs, using the Spyders as a back up. The Scarabs at the back would have to deal with the Kommandos, so that the Immortals could take the objective on my side of the board, whilst the Ghost Arks would have to survive to contest the other two objectives...

Turn One

Necrons

I spawn three Scarabsin each of the front two groups and move them up into terrain. The Ghost Arks move out to the flanks and the Stormlord lighting attacks kill a Shoota Boy

Orks

Both Trukks move forward fast, with everything else moving and running toward me. The Rocket Boys go behind terrain to my right flank, and the Lootas try to shoot me, but fail their night fight roll.

Turn Two

Necrons

I generate more Scarabs on the front groups and look to take out both Trukks. I give one group furious charge from Nemesor and they take on one Trukk each, exploding both. Thrakas group failed their pinning check, which I was very happy to see. Night fight continues but the storm hits nothing.

Orks

Kommandos don't come out, and everything gets close enough to shoot out large quantities of Scarabs. I end up with six left in the group next to Thraka, and the other group gets assaulted by some Boyz and Mega Nobs to leave three bases left. The Rocket Boys come forward and assault one group of Spyders, the Spyders hold but are reduced to one wound each.

Turn Three

Necrons

The centre of the board is starting to look a bit thin of Necrons now. I give furious charge to the Scarabs on the left and assault the Thraka unit hoping to take away a few saves on the Nobs. I generate three Scarabs on the back unit with the second unit of Spyders and send the Spyders in to assist the other Spyders in the assault with the Rocket Boyz. I wipe them out and one unit of Spyders get reduced down to one model, I then consolidate the single Spyder forward as bait to save the rest of my backfield. The storm continues thanks to the Cronocryptek, but does no damage and the two Arks stay out of trouble staying on the flanks. One Ark takes out half a unit of Boyz on the right flank.

Orks

The Kommandos come out this turn and with my Immortal group protected still, they come on the board next the Ark on the right. They manage to destroy one Flyer Array and stun it, of which I fail to stop the result with my Living Metal. The Mega Nobs take my bait and assault the single Spyder killing him without any problems. Thraka leaves the Nobz on the left objective to chase after my Ark on the left, but even with a Waaagh roll, comes just short to assault it.

Turn Four

Necrons

I roll a five for the storm to continue and get three sixes causing two wounds on Thraka, a wound on a Nob and a couple on the Lootas who haven't been able to do anything all game. I generate three more Scarabs and shoot the Immortals into the Mega Nobs, before sending in the Furious Scarabs. I kill the Big Mek and one Nob leaving three left with one wound each and a couple of Scarabs die. I keep the Spyders near the Scarabs and in front of the Immortal group for protection. The Ark on the right was still locked in combat and this time is immobilised by the Kommandos, and the left Ark moves away from Thraka, but in range of left objective, ready for the next turn.

Orks

Five Boyz bunker into terrain next to the objective on the Ork side and the Shoota Boyz hold the middle ground in terrain ready to take any objectives next turn. Nothing happens from shooting because of night fight, and Thraka tries to get the Ark again, but rolls a one and two for is terrain roll and fails once again to assault. This time the Kommandos destroys the Ark, and the Warriors bail out losing one in the explosion and failing their pinning check. The assault with the Mega Nobs continues and one Nob survives.

Turn Five

Necrons

It is currently two objectives to Orks and none to me. The storm finally stops and I generate three more Scarabs and move the Spyders up. I was hoping to contest the Ork objective with the right Ghost Ark, but with it gone the Spyders need to make a long hard slog towards it, in case game goes on. Nemesor takes away Furious charge on the central Boyz as his Immortal group moves behind the Spyders to claim the objective on my side. The left Ark moves 12" and contests the objective the Nobz are holding, and the last Mega Nob dies for me to consolidate the Scarabs to contest that objective as well.

Orks

With night fight gone, the Lootas open up on the last Ark taking of a weapon. The Shoota boyz can't get to my Immortals as the path is blocked by the Scarabs and Spyders, so they spread out for the other two objectives. Thrakka finally gets into assault with the Ghost Ark and destroys it, killing one Warrior in the explosion. Both the Warriors and Scarabs are still contesting that objective and we have one each of the other two.

We look at the time and decide we would be in trouble with the Wives if we carried on any longer, so call it a day with one objective each and the third contested, a draw!

Conclusion

This was certainly a fun game, and I was a bit surprised how well I did. The Scarab ring worked a treat at protecting my Immortals and if I had negated the stunned roll on the Ark, I would have moved it 12" away from the Kommandos and may have had a chance to contest the last objective. I am wondering if I made an error sending in both units of Scarabs to the Trukks at the beginning, as maybe if I had multi assaulted both Trukks with one group of furious Scarabs, it may have been enough to take them both out, but needing sixes to hit from them moving fast was reason enough for me to send in both units, It certainly would have been very annoying not to have taken both Trukks out when I had the chance! More farming experiments needed..